Shadow's Return
by Weijyan
Summary: Recent murders lead to the return of an unusual ally that none of the Kenshin-gumi ever expected to see again. Read and Review, please.
1. Chapter 1

*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, despite my delusions otherwise.  
  
Shadows Return, Chapter 1: A walk in the rain  
  
Night settles over Tokyo as storm clouds move in suddenly. Kamiya Dojo is dark, silent save the sound of rain on the hard brick tiles. The soft sound of zouri on cobble-stone is heard as Himura Kenshin walks around the outside of the school. He moves with deliberate slowness as he studies the area, looking for something, anything, that is out of place. His slow pace is due to the sudden down pour that forced him to abandon his paper lantern.  
  
There had been several murders in the last month, and Kenshin was taking all precautions, now that things had finally settled back down. It seems to Kenshin that the last year was exceptionally busy. After Shishio Makoto, there was the incident with the Black Knights, the Feng-Shui, and the terrorists who used government weapons to try to assassinate a foreign dignitary. Things were finally settling down, but then these murders started. Since he was alone at the dojo at the moment, he decided to check out the area, in hopes of catching the culprit in the act.   
  
Kaoru was at the Akabeko, taking cooking lessons from Tae. Kenshin had wanted to go along, if only to make sure she made it home safely, but Kaoru would not let him. As he walks along, he plays the conversation back in his mind.  
  
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"I will go with you, that I will." Kenshin had said to Kaoru earlier that evening.  
  
"Iie." Kaoru said. "It's a woman's night, Kenshin. You'll be bored."  
  
"The nights are dangerous lately, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin's voice is soft.  
  
"You don't think I can take care of myself!?"  
  
"Oro?"  
  
"I can take care of myself, Kenshin. I'm the assistant master of Kamiya Katsushi Ryu!"  
  
"Aa. But who will protect the attacker from you?" Kenshin said, trying to stave the argument.  
  
"Not funny, Kenshin."  
  
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She left shortly after that, still refusing to allow him to go along.  
  
*I am probably worrying over nothing.* Kenshin thinks, as he continues his patrol of the neighborhood. *Besides, Yahiko-san will be walking home with her.*  
  
Yahiko had been spending more time at the Akabeko, claiming to be working to earn a little spending money. Kenshin doubted that was the whole reason, though, remembering the girl, Tsubame, that worked there. Megumi had not been around in the last few days, busier than usual at the clinic. Even Sanosuke was gone this night, likely out gambling his little money away.   
  
A sigh escapes Kenshins lips as he thinks about the last body found. Unfortunately, it had been found by Kaoru.  
  
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The sun was bright as they were walking from the Akabeko. Tae had treated them to lunch in return for some favor that Kaoru had done for her. They were passing a little used alley, when Kaoru noticed an odd smell. Kenshin recognized it immediately, the smell of blood and the stench of death.  
  
Walking carefully into the alley, the two found a body, cut and mutilated. Large patches of skin had been taken from the body while it was still alive. The face was unrecognizable beneath the hundreds of shallow slashes across it, and the blood, now dry, that flowed from them. The rest of the body was in similar state, slashed and mutilated. This person had obviously been tortured while still alive. Even with all the death and viciousness that Kenshin had seen during the Bakumatsu, his stomach turned at the sight of this.  
  
Kaoru had a more immediate reaction to it. She turned to the side and vomited her lunch. Shaken and still physically shaken, she sat down outside the alley while Kenshin found a police officer.  
  
"Gomen nasai, Kenshin." she said to him as they walked back to the dojo.  
  
"For what, Kaoru-dono?"  
  
"For getting sick like that." she answered. "I shouldn't react like that. I'm the assistant master of Kamiya Katsushi Ryu. That shouldn't bother me."  
  
"I am glad it bothered you, that I am."  
  
"Nani?"  
  
Kenshin paused for a moment, trying to decide how to best say what he means. "If it didn't bother you, that would mean you've seen too much of it." he said finally. "I am glad death is not that familiar to you, that I am."  
  
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Even as these thoughts run through his mind, he searches the buildings, alleys, and rooftops for activity. He is nearly back around to the main entrance when a soft clink, clay tile on clay tile, catches his attention.  
  
Spinning, hand falling to the sakabatou at his side, Kenshin sees several dark figures as they leave the rooftops and land near him, swords drawn. With no gas lights in the immediate area, the night combines with the rain to obscure the darkly clothed attackers.  
  
"Who are you?" Kenshin demands, but is answer only by the first stepping in and slashing down, hard.   
  
The sakabatou leaps from the scabbard, catching the other blade with ease. The second comes in with a horizontal slash, aimed at Kenshin's head. With speed that clearly surprises his attackers, Kenshin parries the incoming slash, deflecting it wide, and returns with a diagonal slash of his own, knocking the attacker back and to the ground.   
  
The first attacker comes back in as Kenshin's back is turn from the strike to the second attacker, lunging. Kenshin spins, deflecting the thrust, and begins to return a strike of his own when another sword arcs at him. Throwing his momentum back, he rolls away from the swing. Coming to his feet, he finds himself surrounded by four darkly clothed swordsmen. The dark night and heavy weather still obscuring most of their dark features.   
  
Spinning his sakabatou fast, he manages to deflect attack after attack, while connecting one of his own, reducing the number of attackers by one.   
  
The three that were left press Kenshin hard, leaving him little room for countering. After several exchanges, one of the attackers manages to get past Kenshin's defense, leaving a shallow wound on his left arm. Ignoring the minor cut, Kenshin launches an assault of his own.   
  
Batting the swords of his mysterious attackers to the side, he connects hard against the side of one of them, dropping him to the cobble stone street. Turning, he begins to parry the two remaining, bidding his time for an opening. The last two, though, seem to be fighting cautiously, not really taking an offense and doing little more than trying to keep him busy.  
  
*What kind of strategy is this?* Kenshin wonders for a moment. As the area around his small wound begins to go numb, he suddenly understands. *Poison!!*  
  
With a sudden flurry of movements, Kenshin aims to end this fight as soon as possible, then get to the clinic. His two remaining opponents, though, are highly skilled. Worse, two of their downed companions return to their feet, unsteadily at first, and retrieve their swords. Still, even with their skill, Kenshin manages to return one of his attackers to the cobble stones.   
  
His whole left arm is now numb, though, and feels as if it is made from stone. He can feel the numbness creeping through his body, slowing his movements. Oddly enough, his attackers no longer are attacking. They only defend against his slowing attacks as the poison does its work.   
  
In a matter of minutes, the sakabatou clangs against the cobble stones. Kenshin sinks to his knees, his legs no longer supporting him.  
  
*Kaoru-dono...* he thinks, unable to force his body to respond to his mental commands. *Gomen nasai... I only wanted to protect you.*  
  
Laying on the street, his mind still working perfectly as the poison paralyzes him, he sees another dark figure leaping from the walls of Kamiya Kasshin Dojo, swords leading the way.  
  
*Gomen nasai, Kaoru-dono.* he thinks one last time as the darkly cloaked figure nears. 


	2. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, or any of the characters, despite any delusional state I happen to be in.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
[ Author's notes ] In my last story, 'From the Shadows', I changed the 'timeline', creating my own Rurouni Kenshin 'world'. This story takes place in 'my world', not the offical Rurouni Kenshin world, though most of the history is still accurate. This story takes place at the end of the series and after the movie.[ /Author's notes ]  
  
Shadow's return, Chapter 2: The morning after..  
  
The sun was just rising over the horizon of rooftops around Sagara Sanosuke as he wanders down the street. The night had been a successful night for him. Not only had he tripled his money gambling, but he managed to, somehow, avoid his usual hang-over. He had won enough to, not only pay his tab off at the Akabeko, but enough for him to live on for a few weeks.  
  
The rain was lightening up and people were starting their daily activities. Sano, on the other hand, had not yet been to bed. He decided that he would go see Kenshin this morning, or rather, see if Kaoru's cooking lessons were paying off.  
  
*I doubt it.* Sanosuke thinks as he approaches the dojo. Something on the side street catches his attention, a strange colouration of the cobble stones near the side entrance. Walking over, he recognizes it instantly. *Blood!*  
  
"Che... Kenshin!"  
  
Not bothering with unlocking the gate, Sanosuke merely jumps over. Yelling for Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko, not knowing who would be at the dojo, the ex-gangster enters the main hall of the dojo.  
  
"Kenshin..." His voice is soft as he sees his friend laying to the side, unmoving.  
  
Running over, he checks to see if the rurouni is still alive. The shallow breath tells him that Kenshin is still alive. Kenshin's gi was off his left side, exposing that arm and side. His left arm was bandaged, and a strange salve was resting near him.  
  
"Nani?" he looks around. "Jou-chan must have been here." He scratches his chin as he thinks.   
  
"Sanosuke!" The voice comes from behind him. Kaoru enters the main hall. "What are you doing here so early?" Before the fighter can answer, though, she sees Kenshin. "Kenshin!" Running to his side, she practically falls on him as she comes down beside him. "What happened?" she asks.  
  
"I was going to ask you that." Sanosuke says. "I thought you were the one that bandaged him. I was wondering why you didn't just put him in his room."  
  
"What's wrong with him?"  
  
"Don't know, Jou-chan. He only seems to have this one wound, and it's only a minor one." Sano shows Kaoru the small slash on Kenshin's left arm. "I also found this." He hands her the small container of salve he found.   
  
"Get Megumi-san, please."  
  
"Eh, hai." Sanosuke sprints out of the dojo, running Yahiko over in the process.  
  
"Oi, Baka!" Yahiko yells, shaking his fist to Sano's back. "Kaoru," he says turning, "Did you see what that baka-yarou just did?"  
  
"Yahiko-chan." she says softly. "Come here."  
  
As Yahiko looks in, he sees Kenshin laying on the floor. "Nani!! What happened?"  
  
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Takana Megumi arrived at the dojo out of breath and practically being carried by Sanosuke. Sano didn't give her any details, really, but he said enough.   
  
As she kneels before Kenshin, she looks him over carefully. "Poison." she said softly. "He's been poisoned."  
  
Kaoru gasps. Sanosuke, though, points to the small container of salve. "Is that the poison?"  
  
"Iie." she says softly. "It's an antidote for pit viper venom." She points to the small wound on Kenshin's arm. "Who applied it?"  
  
"Good question, fox-woman. I was the first here, and I found him like this."  
  
Yahiko looks into the hall. "We have company."  
  
"Now what?" Sano grumbles, turning to look.  
  
Before them stands a tall man wearing a heavy, nondescript robe. His hair is blonde, and cropped short. His shoulders are broad and strong, his manner sure. He bows in their general direction.  
  
"Ohayou." he says softly.  
  
Kaoru, Sanosuke, and Megumi exchange looks. *He looks familiar,* Kaoru thinks, *demo...*  
  
"Tengoku." Sanosuke says, recognizing the man. "I thought you left with your demon friend."  
  
"Sanosuke!" Megumi yells at him. "Be a little more polite. Sometimes you can be a barbarian."  
  
Seeing Kenshin laying motionless on the floor, he says softly, "Iie, Takana-dono. It's alright. What's wrong with Himura-san?"  
  
"He's been poisoned." Kaoru says softly.   
  
"Nani?" Tengoku moves to Kenshin's side, inspecting the wound and the container of medicine. "It looks like I'm too late."  
  
  
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Shadows inhabit the interior of the small, isolated building. Every opening has been carefully boarded, preventing most of the sun light from entering. Movements with-in the building are subtle, as if quick movements might rend the building.  
  
"Nani?" The voice was female, but that did nothing to soften it. Hard with displeasure, her voice sent shivers up the spine of the man she was speaking to.   
  
"We had him beat." the man insisted. "He was poisoned and had collapsed..."  
  
"And you still lost!" the woman yelled at him.   
  
"He was aided, mistress." the man says quickly, dropping to the floor, forehead touching the rotting wood.  
  
"By who?" she asks, suddenly interested. Her tone showed her caution at the thought of their target having help.  
  
"Ano.... We don't know, mistress. Everyone close enough to see the helper died."  
  
"What about the others?" she asks, her voice icy.  
  
"Our spies say that Shinomori is still in Kyoto. Saitou is out of Tokyo. We still have spies following him."  
  
"Your spies also said that those two were the only others that we would have to worry about. You have failed me."  
  
The strange woman lashes out at the man, striking him across the neck, killing him immediately.   
  
She turns to the rest of the unseen assembly. "I want him at my feet, begging for mercy. And. I. Want. Him. NOW!!"  
  
"Mistress." The hidden woman turns in the direction of the fool brave enough to speak at the moment. "That might not be a good idea."  
  
"Care to explain why not before I flay your skin from you while listening to you scream?"  
  
"I think I know who helped the battousai...." 


	3. Chapter 3

As I'm sure you all know, I don't actually OWN Rurouni Kenshin, or related characters. Demo, that doesn't stop me from putting them through hell for no profit on my part.  
  
*Lines with in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's return, Chapter 3: Silent observer  
  
He lies still, unable to force his body to respond to his wishes. He is, though, fully aware of everything that goes on around him. His mind is still working and every jolt to his body seems multiplied in intensity.  
  
Kaoru has spent the last several hours hovering over his still body, tending to even the slightest need he might have. He can clearly see the tears in her eyes as she looks at him, feeling helpless. Her mere presence made him feel better. His inability to comfort her, though, wretched his heart. With nothing more she could do, Megumi had returned to the clinic, though she said she would return if the clinic was slow.  
  
Not far from him, Sanosuke sits with Tengoku, a man nobody ever expected to see again. While Kenshin couldn't actually see Tengoku, he recognized the voice, and, apparently, so did Sanosuke. The squeaking thuds that accompanied the mans steps last time they met were not to be heard this time.   
  
*He must not be wearing his armour.* Kenshin thinks, then tries to focus his hearing to their conversation.  
  
"What do you mean, 'you don't know'?" he hears Sano yell.  
  
"I'm not sure who attacked Kenshin, or what it has to do with my mission." This was Tengoku.  
  
"And, what is your 'mission'?" Yahiko, this time.  
  
"Atarashiikami had an artifact of great power with him, it seems. After we defeated him, the artifact was thought destroyed."  
  
"But somebody found it." Sano says more than asks.  
  
"Hai. We're not sure who, though. I thought it best to check with those I fought beside before I start wading through the trash I fought against looking for it."  
  
"We?" Kaoru asks from just over Kenshin.  
  
"The alliance, for a lack of any better way of putting it. The alliance is various leaders from my homelands working together to try to avoid wars. It was decided that the artifact should be brought to them for safe keeping. Barring that, it should be destroyed to keep it from the wrong hands."  
  
"What does this artifact look like?" Sano, again.  
  
"Ano... No one really knows. It was used by the Akumu Minzoku for centuries, but Atarashiikami stole it from them. Aside from Atarashiikami, only a few Akumu Minzoku know what it looks like. Since they're enemies of the Alliance, I doubt they would help us."  
  
"Che," Sano mutters, "Should have known it wouldn't be easy."  
  
"Hai." Tengoku says. "And we still have to find out who was here before us."  
  
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A darkly cloaked figure leaps from the wall of the dojo, the heavy rain obscuring his features. A katana leads the way as he lands near Kenshin. Unable to continue standing, Kenshin falls to the cobble stones. From the angle he lays, he can't see the battle that rages anew, but he can hear the screams of the dying and feel the blood splatter on and around him.  
  
In a matter of seconds, the screams die, with those screaming. He feels a hand on his wounded left arm, inspecting the wound.  
  
"You did well, my friend. Very few can fight that many Akumu Minzoku, that badly out numbered, and last that long."  
  
The voice is familiar to him, though he can't place it. The coolness in the voice almost makes him believe it to be Shinomori Aoshi, but the voice itself isn't Aoshi's. Unseen hands lift him gently from the cobble stones and carry him into the dojo. He feels almost as if he's floating as the dojo's main hall approaches.   
  
"Gomen nasai. I don't know which room is yours, so we shall just use the main hall."  
  
The unseen hands move him into the main hall, laying him gently in a dark corner. A dark silhouette appears over him briefly. It appears to look around carefully, before gazing down at Kenshin.  
  
"Do not make any mistakes, battousai." the voice says, suddenly harsher, colder than before. "I interfered with the Akumu Minzoku not for your sake, merely to interrupt their plans."   
  
He taps the wound gently, some kind of salve on his fingers. "The poison is not lethal, but this will help to counter the effects. You will, however, find your sense of touch is heightened for several hours." he explains. "This is so they can start the torture before the poison wears off and you would talk faster."  
  
"What I said outside was for other ears only. We are not friends, nor can we be. However, the enemy of my enemy is my ally. They want you for some reason, so I keep you from them. Once this is done, we may well cross swords."  
  
He leans back, wiping the remaining medicine from his hands. "I know you, battousai. You will want to become involved. I would not recommend it."  
  
With that, the speaker disappears, leaving Kenshin to lay in the dark waiting for somebody to come home.  
  
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"And where were you, Kaoru?" Sano asks. The question snaps Kenshin out of his reverie.  
  
"The storm was very strong. Tae-san suggested we wait it out at the Akabeko."  
  
"Aa." Yahiko adds. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."  
  
An uncomfortable silence settles over the main hall. Sanosuke's unspoken accusation, that Kaoru and Yahiko should have been at the dojo, hangs heavy. Kenshin can see Kaoru's head hang low in guilt that she should not feel. The tortured look on her face is almost more than the man can handle.  
  
With every ounce of will power, he forces his right hand to move towards hers. The movement catches her attention.  
  
"Kenshin..." she says softly, a relieved look starting to cross her face.  
  
The effort is almost more than he has the energy for, but Kenshin manages to grasp Kaoru's hand. Her jaw works slowly, trying to find the words the express her happiness of seeing him move again, but nothing more comes out.  
  
"Gomen nasai." he says so weakly that he can't be sure Kaoru could hear him.  
  
"Kenshin!" This time, Kaoru yells his name. Her touch as she wraps him in a strong hug sends the fire of pleasure through him. *My sense of touch is still amplified from the poison.* he realizes.  
  
Several minutes pass before calm is restored to the dojo as everyone crowds the barely moving man. Once everyone calms enough for him to talk again, he looks to Tengoku.  
  
"Where is.." he asks with obvious effort, "the rest of Akuma Ryoshi?"  
  
Tengoku lowers his head. "I am all that's left." he says softly. 


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, or related characters, but I'm still going to mess with them..... (all non-profit, of course)  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadows return - Chapter 4: Discussions  
  
Kenshin spent the day resting. He had eaten a couple rice balls, but his strength was not returning as fast as he had hoped. The strange poison had paralyzed his body, but kept his mind active. He did, though, spend some time talking with Tengoku.  
  
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"Who, exactly, are the 'Akumu Minzoku'?" Kenshin asked.  
  
"You remember Taiyoryu?" When Kenshin nodded, Tengoku continues. "The Akumu Minzoku are his people."  
  
Taiyoryu was a member of the Akuma Ryoshi, 'the demon hunters'. He was called 'The Akumu', the nightmare, by friend and foe alike. Kenshin had to think it was due to his demonic appearance. He had been as friendly as the rest of his group, more so, in some cases. His laughter, though rare, was light and genuine. He was distant, though, not really trusting many people.  
  
His skills also likely added to his title of Akumu. He had the uncanny ability to disappear, melting perfectly into the shadows around him. He moved in a silence that would put any hitokiri Kenshin had known to shame. He kenjutsu was skilled enough that he defeated Shishio Makoto, who had been resurrected by Atarashiikami, while Kenshin fought Atarashiikami, along side Yoake, Taiyoryu's daughter. As is this wasn't enough, he could also call on mystic energies.  
  
Taiyoryu, along with Tengoku, had been the only survivors of the group that had joined Kenshin, Kaoru, Sanosuke, Yahiko, and even Megumi, who had insisted on coming along because everyone else was 'too stubborn to take care of themselves.'  
  
"Are they all like him?" Kenshin wondered aloud. *If so,* he thinks, *we might be in trouble.*  
  
"To an extent." Tengoku hesitated. "Taiyoryu was... extreme. To say that all Akumu Minzoku are like Taiyoryu is like saying all Imperialists are like Himura Kenshin. There is a reason he was called 'The Akumu", even by his own people. He had a heart, though he rarely showed it. That is what set him apart from the rest of his people. They would kill their own mother, if it would bring them more power."  
  
Kenshin nodded, some what relieved, though the idea of fighting enemies who lacked any honor was not enjoyable. He takes a drink of his tea and Tengoku asks a question of his own.   
  
"Are you sure your attackers were Akumu Minzoku?"  
  
Kenshin shook his head. "In the rain and the darkness, I could not see them well. Their clothing covered most of their body, save their eyes. That is simply what my 'rescuer' said."  
  
This caught Tengoku's attention. "What did he say, exactly."  
  
Kenshin paused, thinking back to the night before, after all of the screaming had ended. "You did well, my friend. Very few can fight that many Akumu Minzoku, that badly out numbered, and last that long."   
  
"What else happened? Tell me everything."  
  
Kenshin related the entire story, everything he heard and saw. Tengoku listened closely for any clue.  
  
"The question is," Kenshin said, "Who would know and hate me, and know and hate the Akumu Minzoku at the same time. You said you were the only one left of the Akuma Ryoshi. What happened to Taiyoryu?"   
  
Tengoku lowered the hood to his robe and scratched his head. "He was in a building when it exploded from mystical energies. The explosion destroyed everything for nearly a mile."  
  
Kenshin nodded, not wanting to continue on that subject. "What next?"  
  
"I have already been to the site of Atarashiikami's keep. It has been completely cleaned."  
  
"Nani?" Kenshin was surprised. "What happened to it?"  
  
Tengoku shrugged. "I assume the government cleaned it up."  
  
Several moments of awkward silence passed before the next question came to Kenshin. "How do you plan to find this artifact of yours, since you don't know what it looks like?"  
  
Tengoku reached under his cloak and produced a small plate of some strange metal, with an arrow attached to a pin in the center. With a soft flick of his finger, Tengoku sent the arrow spinning.  
  
"When I get close enough to it, this should turn and point in it's direction."  
  
"Should?" Kenshin asked.  
  
"Aa. The artifact is of a magic not of your world. It should stand out to this finder."  
  
Silence, once more, settles in the room. Kenshin was getting tired of dealing with 'magic'. First, it was the Atarashiikami, then the 'divine medicine', then it was the Fusui. Now, it is this 'artifact' of Atarashiikami.  
  
"I have some contacts in the government. I can speak with them. Maybe we can find out what happened to the ruins."  
  
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Himura-san." Tengoku bowed. "I will leave you to rest. We can talk more later."  
  
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The next morning, Kenshin and Tengoku walk to the police headquarters, hoping to speak to Yamagata Aritomo. After waiting for nearly an hour, they finally get to see him.  
  
"Ohayou, Himura-san." Yamagata greets warmly.   
  
"Ohayou." Kenshin returns.  
  
"To what do I own the honor of this meeting?" Yamagata asks after offering Kenshin and Tengoku a seat.  
  
"This is Tengoku Hitokara." Kenshin says, introducing the robed man beside him. "He was a member of Akumu Ryoshi."   
  
This catches Yamagata's attention. He had, of course, read Meiyomi Agaru's report. Meiyomi Agaru was the coach driver who drove Kenshin's group six months ago in search of Atarashiikami. She drove for the government regularly, and was acting on behalf of the government when she drove Kenshin and his friends.  
  
"Well, now." Yamagata says. "This is a surprise. Meiyomi's report said you had left the land."  
  
"I had, Yamagata-san. I have come back for a very specific reason."  
  
Kenshin had insisted that they could trust Yamagata Aritomo. Tengoku begins to tell Yamagata everything. 


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, or related characters. Tengoku and the Akuma Ryoshi, though, are mine.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's return, Chapter 5: The return  
  
"Nani?" Tengoku was nonplused, to say the least.  
  
Over the last hour, he had told Yamagata everything he could think of about Atarashiikami, the artifact he was after, and the events of his first visit to this land. After answering questions for more than half of the meeting, the Akuma Ryoshi Okashira finally had a chance to ask the question he'd been wanting to know for some time.  
  
"What do you mean, you 'let various temples have the icons'? Who just lets any monk come in and take remains from a despots ruined keep?"  
  
Yamagata stiffened at Tengoku's outburst. He had done everything he could to make Japan the relatively peaceful land it was. Then, this stranger simply comes in and starts berating him? Kenshin sees Yamagata's reaction, and speaks before the elder man could.  
  
"Yamagata-san did what was required at the time." the red-haired man says. "Japan has a history of religious persecution."  
  
"Exactly." Yamagata was calming himself quickly. "In order to show the other nations that we no longer persecute religions, we let the peaceful temples and shrines take statues and icons that were from their religions. The craftsmanship was remarkable for several of the pieces were amazing. It would have been a real shame to have destroyed them."  
  
"I see." Tengoku says softly. "Gomen nasai. I did not mean to question you or your methods." He bows his head respectfully.  
  
"Yamagata-san." Kenshin says, breaking the uncomfortable silence that sat briefly in the office, "Can you tell us where some of the pieces may have gone?"  
  
"Aa. One of the more impressive pieces was taken to the Shinto shrine right here in Tokyo. I can have a list made up for you of where the other pieces were taken."  
  
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Yamagata-san." Kenshin says, bowing politely as he stands, as does Tengoku. "We will check the shrine and come back for the list if we need it."  
  
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They walked in silence to the shrine. Before they approached the torii, Tengoku brings his magic-seeking device out from under his cloak. The arrow spins loosely for a moment, then slowly, points up the stair-way. Kenshin glances at Tengoku, a surprised look on his face.  
  
*It cannot be this easy.* the battousai thinks. He expands his senses, 'looking' for anything that is out of the ordinary.  
  
Approaching the top of the stairs, Kenshin catches a hint of movement to his right. His hand drops to his sakabatou instinctively. When, after several seconds pass, nothing happens, Kenshin motion the Akuma Ryoshi leader to continue. They walk to the shrine, looking around carefully.  
  
"There." Tengoku says, almost breathlessly. He points to a small disc, engraved with Shinto symbols, set in a small recess in the wall. He reaches forward to grab.  
  
A sudden blow to his stomach sends the large man back and into Kenshin. Tengoku reacts with the swift hiss of his blade leaving his scabbard. The man moves the large, heavy blade with surprising speed and agility at his attacker.  
  
Cloaked in a dark leather cape and hood, the attacker seems to melt in to the shadows, at times disappearing completely. Only the bright blade of a katana gave away his position at these times.  
  
"Akumu Minzoku." the large man mutters, disdain dripping from his voice.  
  
As if waiting for a signal, three more demonic-looking warriors leap from the shadows. Kenshin turns away from the large man, intent on defending his back.  
  
Kenshin doesn't wait for them to start the fight for a change. His sakabatou virtually leaps into his hand as he leaps towards the warriors. As his blade smashes against the blades of his enemies, he finds himself being forced onto the defense.  
  
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Tengoku, on the other side of the shrine, plays blade on blade against his nearly hidden opponent. Dancing to the side, he dodges a fast diagonal swipe and brings his double-sided blade up to block the return slash that came faster than he had expected. Even as he blocked it, though, a swift kick came to the back of his left knee, dropping him to a knee. Out of desperation, Tengoku lashes upward with his sword, not only blocking the expected strike, but hoping to catch the smaller attack with the tip.  
  
It half worked. The expected strike was defeated, but his attacker managed to avoid being skewered. As the agile warrior bounces back, the hood to his cloak is severed, revealing him for the first time.  
  
"Taiyoryu." His voice comes out barely a whisper as he stares at his old friend he thought dead. His mouth works silently a couple time before he manages to get it working again.  
  
"What are you doing, Tai? We should be working together!" he yells.  
  
Taiyoryu shakes his head, his long white hair, waves around him, obscuring his scarred face. "Our goals put us against each other." the Akumu says softly. "I must return the artifact to its original owners. You wish to give it to the Alliance."  
  
He pauses for a moment, his one good eye staring into Tengoku's own scarred face. "I cannot allow that."  
  
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Kenshin was beginning to breath hard. He had taken one of his three attackers down, having caught him off balance with a rising strike to his chin. The other two, though, are good and used to working together. While they can't get past Kenshin's defense, they were keeping him from launching an offense of his own.  
  
Tengoku's voice, raised in argument, caught the battousai's attention. Sparing a glance his companions way, he sees some one that he half expected to see, despite being told he was dead. Taiyoryu stands in a defensive position as Tengoku yells at him.   
  
With movement so fast that even Kenshin has difficulty following it, Taiyoryu charges Tengoku. The human raises his large double-edged sword to defend against the blow. His sword cuts straight through the blade of Taiyoryu's katana. The Akumu seems to have expected this, though. He changes the angle of his swing slightly as his blade is cleaved in half by the humans heavier blade. A slight hesitation is all that marks this change as he thrusts the blade deep into the chest of Tengoku.  
  
Moving with god-like speed, faster than he has moved in some time, he sheaths his sakabatou as he charges forward to catch the larger man as he falls. Two fingers held under his nose briefly shows that Tengoku is still breathing, despite the wound.   
  
Taiyoryu takes a step back, giving Kenshin the path out he needs. Grabbing the fallen warrior, the battousai runs for the clinic as fast as he can, Tengoku's heavy sword sparking against the cobble stone paving as it is drug behind. 


	6. Chapter 6

All standard disclaimers apply. Rurouni Kenshin still doesn't belong to me.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's return - Chapter 6: Regrets  
  
  
He sits alone in the darkness of the shadows and the coming night. Today hadn't exactly gone as he had planned. In fact, nothing at all turned out very well. He lost an ancient Seishin relic and he quite possibly killed his only remaining friend. *No... Definitely not the best day I've ever had.*  
  
Taiyoryu finds himself thinking back, as he often does lately, trying to find a reason for him to continue on. He thinks back through what happened to bring him to this point.  
  
He grew up Akumu Minzoku. His ebony skin, glowing red eyes, and demonic appearance would eternally mark him as of the 'Nightmare Tribe'. As a youth, he had thought it a blessing, had thought it better than being born of a 'weaker' race. He trained as a warrior, as all males of the tribe would. Before his first year of training ended, he had no equals among the students. With-in another couple years, not even the masters could defeat him.   
  
Not yet an adult, he joined the warriors of the tribe in raids of other Minzoku races. Unknown to his comrades, Taiyoryu also studied the mystic energies. He mastered these, too, at an early age, though his fellow Akumu Minzoku knew nothing of it.  
  
It was during this training, though, that he started down this path he now travels. His research and training lead him to a secret shrine of a forbidden goddess. 'Ai de Nushen' was all she was known by, for to even say her name would result in a painful death. Instead of turning in the shrine, though, he let his curiosity take over. Over the next several months, he spoke with the caretaker of the shrine, learning of such foreign concepts as 'love', 'peace', 'honor', even 'friendship'. These were the worst form of heresy.  
  
"The Goddess of Love." he says softly, fingering her symbol that he still wears, even after all these years. A small silver disc with an engraving of a full moon, thick, swirling hair wraps the moon, and a double-edged sword with it's tip raised to the heavens. "An odd symbol for a goddess of love." he had said many years ago, and he still finds it odd. It hangs from his neck from a thick leather cord and often rests with-in the dark leather pouch he had made to fit it. The symbol was too bright to properly fade into the shadows.  
  
It was during those meetings that he became a traitor to his people. Knowing he could not stay with them, he set out to find the truth of life for himself. Over years of traveling, the only truth he learned was that his people were universally feared, often to the point of hysteria.  
  
He did, eventually, manage to find a woman who loved him, in spite of his race. The wed and were married for a brief time before his people, once more, appeared in his life. During an Akumu Minzoku raid of the land they lived, his wife died horribly. With nothing holding him, he returned to wandering. This was no little step towards where he is now.  
  
Eventually, his travels lead him to the employ of a queen. Not just any queen, 'THE' queen of the Minzoku, or, rather, most of them. Those who walk the light happily follow this lady they call 'the sad queen.' Of course, he had never been allowed to actually met her, and it was unknown if she even knew that he worked for her. This was to be expected, though. None fear the Akumu Minzoku more than the tribes who follow the ways of peace and love. If it were to be found that she was meeting with an Akumu Minzoku, it could end her reign. This was another major event that brought him here.  
  
Years roll by as Taiyoryu Senshiyi works for the sad queen, retrieving lost or stolen artifacts that belong to her people. It was during one of these missions that he found a young Seishin Minzoku girl. The 'Spirit Tribe' has always held a special hatred for the Akumu Minzoku. They were popular targets for the nightmare tribe to raid, taking slaves for labor and pleasure.   
  
As he wandered into a village, recently destroyed by an Akumu raid, Taiyoryu was surprised to find the little girl alive. She must have been out of the village when the actual raid happened. Though she fought him at first, he took her with him, naming her Yoake Noboru, Rising Dawn, after the morning sun that hung low in the sky at the time. It was also a symbolic name for him. He was really starting anew, trying to be a parent to this little girl that he didn't even know. As she grew, she became the meter against which he measured right and wrong. Her sense of justice was very strong, and he tended to take her opinion very seriously.   
  
She trained in gung fu, kenjutsu, as it's called here, at his side. Eventually, she joined the Akuma Ryoshi, the demon hunters. Taiyoryu, well settled into the role of worried father, went along as well. It was then that he had met Tengoku Hitokara and Alli. Alli was half human, half Seishin, but she was all woman. They grew very close for a time, until their growing relationship began causing problems for her among the other Ryoshi.   
  
He glances down to the katana at his side, given to him by that rare close friend. His mind runs back, unbidden, to the last time he saw her alive.   
  
They had just followed Atarashiikami through his portal to a strange world that they never learned the name of. A major battle was being fought on the side they just left, but that didn't matter. Nothing they did would matter if Atarashiikami escaped. Casualties were heavy on both sides that day. Alli ran off after Atarashiikami. Taiyoryu was supposed to stay at her side, but was separated by the tide of battle. By the time he was able to get back to her, she was trapped inside a mystic shell with the demon-man. All of his power, and he couldn't dent the shell of energy. Atarashiikami knew this and took his time, killing Alli slowly, painfully. He went so far as to molest her still warm body after he finally killed her. Taiyoryu was, once more, left with nothing but a torn body of one he loved.  
  
He gripped the katana at his side as he thought about the woman who gave it to him. Though he used it when fighting Shishio those many months ago, he could not bring himself to draw it for the confrontation with Tengoku. He had already betrayed too many trusts.  
  
And so the battles went. By the time they managed to defeat Atarashiikami, only Tengoku and Taiyoryu were left of the Akuma Ryoshi. Yoake, his daughter, died at the battousai's side during the final confrontation.  
  
*I will never forgive him for that.* he thinks. *It was his duty to protect her while she trapped the demon's energies.*  
  
He shakes his head to clear the thought, to force himself to keep going. He had returned to his homeland with Tengoku. With little else left, he had thrown himself into his work. This led him directly here.  
  
For the first time ever, he met directly with the sad queen. She told him of the history of the artifact that Atarashiikami had used to gain his power. Common knowledge leads people to believe that the Akumu Minzoku created it, as they have had it for as long as any could remember. Truth of the matter, though, was that it was created by the Seishin Minzoku. This made it his duty to retrieve it.  
  
It didn't take long at all to get on it's trail, a couple days. Then, he happened across the battousai being attacked by Akumu Minzoku. He still isn't sure why he helped him. He 'said' it was only to keep the Akumu Minzoku from being one step closer to what ever goal they had, but that wasn't the whole of it.  
  
*It's something Yoake would have done.* he realizes. She was annoyingly quick to forgive and even faster to help others.  
  
As he continued his search, it was only the worst of luck that put him at that shrine the same time as Tengoku and the battousai. It was only the worst of luck that made him go against his friend.  
  
*He shouldn't have gotten in our way. Those who get in our way, die.*  
  
He shook his head once more, forcing that thought from his mind. That's the way the Akumu Minzoku think. That is what he has spent nearly his whole life trying not to be.  
  
Even as he had fought Tengoku, the Akumu Minzoku had slipped in, with some fighting the battousai to keep him busy, and stolen the artifact from under them. Taiyoryu nearly panicked until he realized that it wasn't the whole artifact.   
  
*It was just a source of power.* he thinks, remembering the only faint magic that emanated from it. *And a dangerously unstable one. There still has to be something to control it.*  
  
*That's it.* he thinks. *Today has proven that I am no better than those I despise, those I have strove not to be. There is nothing left for me, save the corner of hell that awaits me.* He looks down to the sword in his hands. *But not yet. I gave my word to return the artifact to the Seishin, at any cost.*  
  
The darkness now stretches on, the sun long since set, completely encompassing him. He couldn't help but think of how appropriate that is. 


	7. Chapter 7

Standard disclaimers apply. Despite my continued delusions, I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts*  
  
Shadow's return - Chapter 7: Recovering  
  
"You will lay back down," Megumi orders, "Or I will lay you back down." She waves her fist before Tengoku's face.  
  
The night has given way as the sun creeps higher in the sky. Megumi had spent several hours that night working to save the mans life.  
  
"My dear lady," he says as he lays back, "I think you spent too much time with the tori-atama."  
  
Megumi chuckles flirtatiously. Tengoku may have a few years on her, but he was still quite handsome. "Hai." she said. "I think you're right."  
  
Sudden pain runs through his body as a fit of coughs takes hold. He calms after a few moments.  
  
She looks over the bandages over his chest. "You're lucky to be alive. If the blade had gone a couple centimeters to either side, you wouldn't have lived long enough to have been brought here."  
  
"Oh?" Tengoku said interested. He had never known Taiyoryu to slip like that when killing someone.  
  
"Hai. It missed your heart on one side, a major artery on the other. As it is, it grazed your lungs. You're out of action for a while."  
  
"Very expertly done." he murmurs. Noticing the woman doctors confused look, he explains. "He basically told me that I was in his way."  
  
Her eyes go wide. "He did this to you to keep you out of his way? I thought he was your friend!"  
  
He laughs. "He is. I'm still here." He quickly regrets the laugh, though, as another fit of coughs rack his body.  
  
Megumi shakes her head. *I'll never understand these people.* she thinks, referring to the warrior caste, the group that constantly put themselves in harms way. Just when she thinks she has them figured out, some strange new rule of 'honor' seems to surface. *'He didn't succeed in killing me, so he's still my friend.'*  
  
"Hai. And you had better still be here when I get back with more bandages. If you get any fool idea about running off," she looks pointedly at Kenshin, who was sitting over in the corner, "I'll have to come find you and drag you back here."  
  
"My dear," a bright smile plays across his face, "How could I refuse such gracious care?"  
  
Megumi walked out of the room, half muttering, half laughing. She wasn't sure whether to be infuriated by the man, or interested. She stops short when she realizes that this is the same effect that Sanosuke has on her. *Well, there goes my good mood.* she thinks.  
  
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"I guess I screwed up, eh, Himura?" Tengoku ends his sentence coughing. Blood accompanies his coughs this time, though. "Ouch."  
  
"Perhaps not." Kenshin says softly, after Tengoku stops coughing. "It seems that Taiyoryu knows something we don't, and he doesn't seem inclined to share it.."  
  
"That wouldn't be the first time." the larger man mutters. "What brings you to that conclusion?"  
  
The red-haired warrior pauses, considering what he saw as he carried Tengoku out of the shrine. "A woman who looked similar to Taiyoryu, another Akumu Minzoku, I would guess, grabbed the artifact."   
  
The former leader of the Akuma Ryoshi cursed under his breath.  
  
"Taiyoryu, though," the battousai continues, "only seemed to make a token attempt to stop her."  
  
The wounded man's jaw works for a moment, nothing coming out, completely at a loss. A moment later, Megumi returns with fresh bandages.  
  
"Welcome back, my dear." Tengoku says, a smile wide on his face.  
  
"Damaru." she replies in an angry tone. The large man looks over at Kenshin, a surprised look on his face. The battousai could do little more than shrug.  
  
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She sits in the darkness, sensitive fingers working their way across the artifact. She could feel the magic radiate from it, but it was a much weaker feel than she had expected. Closer her eyes, she wills it to do her bidding, to release a small amount of it's energy in the form of a bolt of energy.  
  
She can feel the power welling up with-in the small disc, engraved with Shinto symbols. *Yes.* she thinks, *Toratsuki is as good as dead, then I will lead the Akumu Minzoku.*  
  
Suddenly, she realizes that there's something wrong. *It's still building!* she thinks, referring to the energy from the disc. Pushing her will at the disc, she orders it to release the energy.  
  
"NOOOOO!!!" Her voice rips from her throat as the energy suddenly pulses forth.  
  
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"I want the control piece found." Toratsuki is deceptively small. Standing well under five feet tall, her slender body is framed by her long, thick white hair.  
  
"Hai, Toratsuki." The chorus rings loud in her ears from her dozens of warriors. They had sifted the remains of the building destroyed when an ambitious priestess tried to access the power of the artifact. Of course, Toratsuki knew what the young woman was going to do and had allowed it. After all, some one else had to test the artifact to make sure that it was safe to use.   
  
Once the artifact was found, they promptly disappeared into the surrounding area before the local police force could arrive. She had meditated on her problem for several hours. The answer came to her with a suddenness that nearly drove her to the floor.  
  
Himura Kenshin was the last to fight Atarashiikami, the one to defeat him. Atarashiikami would have had the artifact on him. Of course he had it. It was the only explanation of how he defeated her warriors days before.  
  
"Himura Kenshin." she said softly to her captain. "He has the piece."  
  
"Demo, Mistress..." the warrior stutters. "He already defeated several of our warriors. He is too powerful to attack straight on, especially if he has the artifact."  
  
Normally, she would have had the man killed, slowly and painfully, for his insubordination. However, she found he was right. "Then, target his loved ones." she answers coldly.  
  
"Hai, mistress." her forces reply in unison.  
  
A dark smile plays across her ebony lips. "Start with the woman doctor, the old man, and the children." 


	8. Chapter 8

Standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, or related characters.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's return - Chapter 8: Destruction  
  
*What a night.* Kenshin thinks as he approaches the Kamiya dojo. Now mid-morning, he had left Tengoku under the supervision of Megumi and Genzai-sensei. As he walked, he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next.   
  
*All of this is so far from where my knowledge lies.* he thinks, walking down the street. *Taiyoryu is still out there somewhere, as are the Akumu Minzoku. Both are after this strange artifact.* He plays over everything he knows, trying to decide where his next move would be.  
  
*Should I wait for them to make another attempt on my life?* he wonders, knowing that they had already made one attempt, which nearly succeeded.. He had been poisoned and was falling. A mysterious benefactor appeared and slew several of the Akumu Minzoku. He firmly believed that it was Taiyoryu that had done this, though he doubts the "Akumu" would admit it.   
  
Kenshin could do little more than shrug. He barely knew the warrior who is called the Akumu, the nightmare, even by his own people and companions, as well as his enemies. With-out knowing him, the rurouni could do little to predict his actions or find his hiding place. Even as these thoughts cross his mind, even as he reaches for the gate to the dojo, a soft voice catches his attention.  
  
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"Now, you have to rest this arm." Megumi says, leaning over the boy, wrapping his arm tightly. "It isn't broken, but it's badly strained."  
  
The boys mother nods appreciatively, thanking the woman doctor, as Genzai walks into the room.  
  
"That other patient of yours is acting up." the older doctor says to her. "He's demanding his sword."  
  
Megumi sighs. "I'll go check on him." Standing, she bows to the boys mother before walking into the back room.   
  
As she steps in, she sees Tengoku forcing himself to his feet, clutching the side of a table. "Where's my blade?" he demands.  
  
"Get back to bed." Megumi demands right back. "Your sword is in the building, but you're in no condition to use it."  
  
"You don't understand, Megumi-sensei." he says, almost pleading. "The Akumu Minzoku are here."  
  
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Kenshin was running as fast as he could. Sanosuke, who had been at the dojo expecting to mooch lunch, was not far behind him, with Kaoru and Yahiko struggling to keep up with the fast Kenshin and long legged Sanosuke. Even as they approached the clinic, they could tell something was wrong.   
  
Dark shadows, darker than usual, could be seen around the building. With a sudden burst of movement, they all entered the building. Screaming could be heard for blocks.  
  
The sakabatou leaps from it's scabbard into Kenshin's hand as he leaps up the stairs into the small hallway, approaching the first door. A sudden grunt of excursion proceeds the limp form of an Akumu Minzoku soaring through the open door, crashing into the wooden rail, bending in a sickening fashion. Looking in the door, the former hitokiri sees Tengoku, despite his wound, standing with his heavy blade in his hand, surrounded by four dark warriors.  
  
Bursting into the room, the battousai hears the skull of the first crack under the sakabatou before crushing three ribs on the next attacker. When two of their companions fell in the blink of an eye, the two remaining warriors turned reflexively to the new comer. Tengoku, never one to skip a chance, cleaved his sword halfway through the nearest of the two, even as Kenshin snaps the blunted 'edge' of his sakabatou into the chin of the remaining warrior.  
  
Tengoku plants the blade into the wood floor, leaning heavily on it and breathing hard. "How..." That's all he manages to get out before a fit of coughs, bringing blood to his mouth, strikes the man.  
  
"Taiyoryu warned us that our friends might be a target." Kenshin answers. "Where is everybody?"  
  
Tengoku points back towards the room that most of the patients are seen in as his coughing fit subsides.  
  
"Help with the evacuation of the clinic. We're taking them all to the dojo." the battousai says.  
  
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"Get everybody out of here!" Sanosuke yells to Megumi, even as he strikes one of the dark warriors with the futae no kiwami in the head. The warriors head erupts in a shower of blood, ichor, and bone fragments.  
  
"To the dojo." Kaoru adds. "It's protected."   
  
"Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan are still here somewhere!" Megumi yells.   
  
Kaoru nods. "I'll find them! Start getting these people to the dojo!"  
  
Kaoru runs out of the room, checking the clinic, room by room, looking for the two little girls. She nears a corner in the hallway, hearing metal on metal. Raising her bokken, she prepare for the fight to come.  
  
As she actually rounds the corner, though, she doesn't find quite what she had expected. Ayame and Suzume stand huddled fearfully in a corner, surrounded by six Akumu Minzoku. *So, what was the sounds of battle I heard?* she wonders for a moment, until she notices that one of the Akumu Minzoku had his back to the girls and was actually fighting his kin. Already, several bodies littered the floor, a testimony to his skill.  
  
"Taiyoryu?" she said curiously. She had never really seen his full face before. It had always been hidden by the hood of the cloak he wears. His eyes glance her way for a moment. Even as his eyes reach hers, the warriors attack.   
  
Taiyoryu's blade moves so fast that the adjacent master of the Kamiya Ryu can't follow it. The only people she had ever seen move that fast before were Kenshin and his shisho. One of the attackers falls away, clutching his throat, while his other attackers step back cautiously. Kaoru is about to run to his aid when four more dark warriors appear.   
  
*Eight on two.* she thinks.   
  
The look on Taiyoryu's face tells her what he thinks of their odds. Reaching blindly behind him with his free hand, he grabs the front of Suzume's kimono. With a snap of his arm, he sends the girl soaring, screaming, towards Kaoru. Nearly dropping her bokken she carefully catches the child.  
  
She is about to set her down, ready to catch Ayame, when she sees Taiyoryu leaping towards her, Ayame under one arm. Landing next to Kaoru, he pauses only long enough to block a downward strike from a nearby swordsman, sending a kick into his mid-section.  
  
"Go." is all he says, still holding Ayame tightly under his arm. As the two sprint through the clinic, they find that the only ones left in the building were Megumi and them. Megumi, upon seeing the girls carried past them, follows them out as fast as possible.   
  
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Kenshin blocked a strike from a wakizashi as one of the dark warriors came in hard. They were fast, but not as fast as the battousai. Still, he could not fend them all off forever. Dodging to his left, Kenshin spins, turning the dodge into a momentum strike, which lands hard in his enemies rib cage. He hears several ribs crack as the fighter falls. Snapping his sakabatou hard left, then right, he blocks a series of strikes from two opponents who seem to work well as a team.  
  
The sudden removal of one, as Sanosuke levels a round-house kick to the head of one, bouncing him hard off the ground, throws his partner off. Kenshin takes full advantage of this, first slicing straight through his enemies blade with his own, then connecting hard on the fighters head with the return swing.  
  
"Oi, Kenshin!" Sanosuke yells. "I think we're winning!"  
  
"Aa." Kenshin agrees. "So it seems. But be careful. It sounds like Taiyoryu was expecting something we haven't seen yet."  
  
"Che. We can handle anything these baka-yarou throw at us!"   
  
Even as Sanosuke yells this, they see Taiyoryu come around the corner, skidding to a stop. Starring into the shadows of a nearby building, his eyes go wide.  
  
"Oisogi!" he yells, still staring into the shadows. "Back to the dojo, before it's too late!"  
  
Even as he speaks, the clinic behind them explodes, sending wood and fire over the three. 


	9. Chapter 9

Despite my best delusions, I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's Return - Chapter 9: Refugees  
  
The sun rests mid-way through its morning climb as police search the ruined warehouse for clues. A few hours ago, the building mysteriously exploded. As long as they searched, though, there were no answers to be found here for the police.   
  
A soft rumble works its way across Tokyo, bringing the attention of the assistant inspector back to the present. He had been pouring over Meiyomi's report from six months ago in his head, over and over, trying to piece this puzzle together.  
  
A junior officer runs up to him, saluting him crisply despite his rough breathing.  
  
"Hodo suru!" the assistant inspector ordered, returning the salute.  
  
"Fujita-sama, the clinic just exploded." the officer manages to say, slowing his breathing enough to speak. "There is also a report of a battle before it exploded."  
  
Saitou raises an eyebrow at this. "How did a battle take place, in Tokyo, in broad daylight, no less, with-out the police being involved?"  
  
"There were a police involved, sir. Three officers were killed by strange creatures."  
  
"Strange creatures?" he says, "Who died?"  
  
"Myomin, Sohiko, and Taijiro." he says.  
  
Saitou grumbles softly. He knew the officers. While he knows death is part of the job, and he's no stranger to it, those three were the type of officers that the new era needed. They were good officers.  
  
"Who else was involved?"  
  
"Several people were seen fleeing from the clinic just before it was destroyed. An officer followed them back to the Kamiya dojo."  
  
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The dojo is full of the patients from the clinic. Bodies of wounded and sick litter the main hall as Megumi and Genzai work their ways through the patients.  
  
Suzume leans against Kenshin, crying. The red-haired warrior leans down and picks her up. He notices, for the first time, the large bloodstain on the front of her kimono.  
  
"Suzume-chan!" he says, shocked. "Are you alright?"  
  
She sniffles in his ear. "I'm scared, Ken-nii." she says in a weak voice.  
  
"But, you are not hurt?" he says relieved. Suzume shakes her head. "Where did the blood come from?" he asks her softly.  
  
"The stranger threw me at Kaoru-ane. He was all bloody."  
  
Kenshin looks over at Ayame, following Megumi around, and sees the front of her kimono was covered in blood, as well. Curious, he begins looking around for Taiyoryu.  
  
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Kaoru was doing her best to comfort those who were brought to her dojo from the clinic. She wasn't especially good at it, but she did what she could. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Taiyoryu sitting in a corner, his head slumped down and his long hair hanging across his face. His katana rests against his left shoulder. Kaoru couldn't help but shudder as she thought of how similar he is to how Kenshin was when he first arrived.  
  
Kenshin steps beside her. "Have you seen the Akumu?" he asks.   
  
She nods in Taiyoryu's direction. "Why?"  
  
"I think he may be wounded."  
  
Kaoru moves behind Kenshin as he approaches the strange warrior. If the haunting similarities between the two bothered Kenshin, either he didn't show it or Kaoru couldn't see it. The were almost to him when Kaoru sees the pool of blood that is running out from under his cloak.  
  
"Taiyoryu-san?" Kenshin says softly, placing a hand on the warriors shoulder. When the Akumu doesn't respond, he sends Kaoru for Genzai or Megumi.  
  
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Ayame had to sit down. She had tried following Megumi around, tried to be as helpful as possible, but she was just too tired now. She had found that when she was busy, she didn't have time to be scared. Now, though, she was tired and had to rest, so she had plenty of time to be scared. She begins to whimper softly, despite herself.  
  
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" a deep voice asks softly beside her. She looks over to see one of the patients from the clinic looking at her. *What did he come in for?* she asks herself. *A doctor needs to remember this stuff.*   
  
His hair was a little longer than Yahiko's, but not as long as Kenshin's. It is the bright yellow of the sun, as is his thick mustache. "I'm okay." she says weakly.  
  
"Are you scared?" he asks. She looks over to Megumi, who is walking through the patients. The man must have seen where she was looking.  
  
"You want to be just like her, eh?" She snaps around to stare at him. *How could he know that?* He chuckles softly at the look on her face. "I don't blame you." he says softly. He looks around, like he's about to share a secret. "She is pretty."  
  
"She's smart, too." Ayame says proudly. "She knows everything. Well... Except kenjutsu, but she says doctors don't need to know kenjutsu."  
  
"Hai." the man says softly. "And she always has boys around."   
  
Ayame makes a face at him. "Boys are yucky. Well, most boys.."  
  
"Ah." the man says, a smile on his face. "You have a boyfriend."  
  
Ayame frowns at him, smacking him on the chest. "I do not!" The man coughs roughly for a moment, a trickle of blood appearing in the corner of his lips. She gasps softly, trying to figure out what his injury is. She places the back of her hand against his forehead. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to find, but she had seen Megumi and her grandpa, Genzai, do it. She sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, she had seen her grandpa do that, too. The man chuckled at the sight of this.  
  
"Am I going to be alright?" he asks her, laughing lightly.  
  
She suddenly remembers why he was there. "Hai." she answers, then smacks him on the forehead with the back of her hand. She had seen Megumi do that a lot, too, but usually to Sano. "But you're supposed to be resting, not swinging your sword around."  
  
The man laughs again. "You already sound like her." Ayame couldn't help but laugh with the man. 


	10. Chapter 10

All standard disclaimers apply. Despite my attempts to convince myself otherwise, I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Chapter 10: Full force  
  
"I still don't understand why they aren't attacking." Sanosuke grumbled to Kenshin. "Not that I want them to, really, but they attacked and destroyed the clinic during broad daylight. Why not try the dojo, too?"  
  
"Shirimasen, Sanosuke-san." Kenshin answers. "I felt a strange energy as we entered, though."  
  
"Aa." Sano agrees. He felt it, too. *Kami,* he thinks, *I hate magic.* Aloud, he says, "Yoku, we might as well rest while we can."  
  
"Aa."  
  
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Megumi knelt over Taiyoryu, changing his bandages, while Ayame knelt across from her trying to help. The young girl had been trying to help Megumi, but she was over-anxious and was starting to get in the way. So, Megumi had done the only thing she could think of. She asked Ayame to keep an eye on Tai for her. It wasn't really needed, he would recover, but it made her feel important. And it kept her from being tripped on.  
  
Megumi watched, somewhat amused, as the girl placed the back of her hand on the Akumu's forehead. *She probably saw Genzai-sensei and I do that often enough. I wonder if she knows what she's looking for.* The thought amused her more than it probably should, and she felt ashamed of herself instantly for thinking it.  
  
She can't help but wonder at the massive scar the crosses the right side of his face, starting just below his hair and ending near his bottom jaw, disappearing only briefly under the metal eye patch that is bolted directly to his skull. Megumi knows how he came to have it, but she wonders why he never had it healed. *After all, they do have magical healing where he comes from.*  
  
"Yoake?" the voice was soft and weak, but it was enough to make Ayame let out a short shriek and jump back. The girl looked to Megumi.  
  
"Iie, Taiyoryu-san." she says softly to the wounded creature, who still hadn't opened his eyes. Looking at Ayame, she explains, "Yoake was his daughter's name."  
  
"Oh." was all the girl would say.  
  
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He drifts in nothingness, gray clouds floating gently through a colourless backdrop that stretches an eternity in every direction. The pain that had been in his side had bleed way, leaving his entire body numb.  
  
*So,* he thinks, disappointed, *This is death. I had hoped to be reunited with Yoake, perhaps even my long dead wife, Jo'hi. Of course, that can't happen. My people are banned from heaven.*  
  
A light touch on his forehead brings his attention back from his thoughts. "Yoake?" he asks, his voice suddenly sounding weak.  
  
"Iie." The answer drifts to him from everywhere and nowhere at once. There is more, but it is lost to the void around him.  
  
With sudden realization, he is laying on the floor, a form above him. Instincts born of years of persecution take over. Reaching out, he grabs the extended arm of the form by the wrist with his right hand, his left moves up the arm to a point just below the shoulder. With the lightest touch, he disables the flow through the meridian. With the same motion, he pushes the form to the side, rolling to his feet, even as his vision returns.  
  
As his vision clears, he looks around, finding himself surrounded by sick humans. Just before him, sits Megumi, who was frantically trying to get her right arm to work once more. A small girl sits beside him, her eyes wide in fear. He recognizes her as the one he had carried a short distance from the clinic, before giving her to Megumi and returning to get Kenshin and Sanosuke.  
  
His left hand brushes his side, finding it freshly bandaged. "Ano..." he mutters, ashamed of himself. His reaction, though instinctive, should not have happened. "Gomen nasai." He begins to kneel next to Megumi, to return function to her arm, when a powerful hand grabs him from behind.  
  
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"Baka-yarou!" Sano grabs Tai from behind and hurls him into a nearby wall. "She saves your life and you thank her by attacking her?"  
  
Seeing that the demon, and he still believes Tai to be a demon, is stunned, Sano moves in. A dark grin crosses his lips and a fire glows with-in his good eye and seems to lick out from under the metal eye-patch that is bolted directly to his skull, covering what used to be his right eye.   
  
A quick movement of the hand, and Sano feels a soft touch, almost a caress, on his chest. A sneer crosses Sano's face, as he steps closer to throw the demon again, when his legs give out from underneath him.  
  
"Nani?" he yells as he falls to his knees. "Oi! What did you do to me? No fair! Time-out?"  
  
The dark creature smiled coldly at him. "I closed off your legs, just as I closed of Megumi's arm. What I did to Megumi was an accident, an instinctive reaction, and I apologize for it."   
  
He walks over to the woman doctor. She shrinks back slightly as he reaches for her arm. "If you don't let me return the flow to your arm, you will lose it."   
  
With a quick movement, he grabs her by the wrist, leaving her no more room for argument. Placing two fingers on her arm, just under the shoulder, he presses lightly, in a small circular motion. With-in seconds, the feeling returns to her arm and she can move it again.  
  
"Gomen nasai." he says softly to her, "Arigatou gozaimasu."   
  
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"What about Sanosuke?" Megumi asks as Taiyoryu starts walking away.  
  
"What about him?" The Akumu looks at the woman doctor, then to the little girl. Her eyes were big with fear, reminding him so much of Yoake the day he found her. Sighing, he moves slowly, now feeling his wounds, to stand before Sano. A swift kick strikes Sano in the stomach, strong enough to double the large man over.  
  
Grumbling in pain, he stands quickly advancing on the wounded Akumu Minzoku. He nearly reaches Taiyoryu when he hears Kenshin say his name. Turning to the battousai, he sees the man standing a few feet away, holding a now sleeping Suzume in one hand, and pointing to Sanosuke's feet with the other. Looking down, he finds that he's able to stand again. That's when he realizes something.  
  
"Oi!" he yells. "Why did you have to hit me to undue mine when Megumi-san's only took a light touch?"  
  
"I didn't." Taiyoryu answers. "You earned the hit." He turns and starts to walk off when he finds the little girl from earlier standing before him.  
  
"You're hurt." she says softly. "You need to be resting." She points her finger up at the dark ebony face of the Nightmare tribesman.  
  
"Is that so?" he says, more than asks. He watches the girl stand before him, shaking in fear, but refusing to move.  
  
"H-h-hai." she finally manages to stammer. He raises an eyebrow at the little human girl who refuses to be cowed by the aura of fear that always seems to radiate from him. him.   
  
In that moment, he found that he couldn't refuse her. *So much like Yoake.* he thinks. Nodding, he moves towards a corner to sit and rest.  
  
"Over there," she says, pointing to a different corner, "With your friend."  
  
He looks down at her as he walks past. "Girl," he says softly, "I have no friends. Remember that."  
  
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As soon as Taiyoryu walks past the trembling Ayame, Yahiko reaches out, catching her arm and pulling her back away from the Akumu.  
  
"What do you think you were doing?" he hisses at her. "He'll kill you with no mercy."  
  
"I was okay." the girl insisted. "He wouldn't hurt me. I saw it in his eye."  
  
"Feh. In his eye?" Yahiko asks, dismissing it as a fantasy of youth. "That was.." he starts, but is cut off by Megumi.  
  
"A very brave thing to do, Ayame-chan."  
  
Yahiko looks to the woman doctor, who obviously approved of the young girls actions, and shakes his head. "I'll never understand women." he mumbles as he walks off. "That wasn't brave, that was stupid."  
  
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Walking to the corner, Taiyoryu finds the last person in this, or any other world, that he ever expected to see again. 


	11. Chapter 11

I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's Return, chapter 11:   
  
The silence is thick for several long moments. "Taiyoryu." Tengoku greets, emotionless, staring up at the warrior who had seriously wounded him.  
  
"Tengoku." the heavily cloaked figure says, clearly surprised. "I had not expected to see you here."  
  
"You don't say." the man returns. The sarcasm drips from his words. When he sees that Taiyoryu is still standing, he continues. "I thought you were ordered to sit down by the girl."  
  
Taiyoryu clears his throat. "Hai, well..." he starts, but Tengoku cuts him off.  
  
"Sit down, already." Tengoku moves to the side enough to make room for his former komon and friend. Taiyoryu, hesitantly, sits. Another few moments of uncomfortable silence settles before Tengoku speaks again. "Well?" he asks suddenly.  
  
"Well, what?" the Akumu Minzoku asks, confused.  
  
"When are you going to tell me what in the nine hells you were thinking?" the former shireikan blurts out.  
  
Taiyoryu stares down at the floor for several long moments. "I am Akumu Minzoku." he says softly. "It was only a matter of time."  
  
Tengoku stare bores into the warrior he thought he knew. "Yoshi." he says, nearly inaudible. "If that is how it must be, then, once this is over, we will meet once more, and only one of us will walk away."  
  
Taiyoryu's shoulders sag, but he nods.  
  
"Chikusho!" the man yells suddenly, smashing his fist into the floor, startling the refugees resting near him. "Taiyoryu Senshiyi, I know you better than that! You're a devious, perpetual schemer! You don't do anything with-out reason. I want the real reason you did this to me." He pauses to study the tortured look on Taiyoryu's face. "What ever it is, my friend, you can tell me."  
  
"Friend?" Taiyoryu returns incredulously. "That requires a trust, one that I broke."  
  
"Aa." the human says softly. "You did, indeed break that trust. Demo, there is one more trust left you have not broken." Taiyoryu looks at the former shireikan of the Akuma Ryoshi, his face showing that he doesn't know what the man is talking about. "I trust you to be you. If you tell me that you attacked be because you are Akumu Minzoku, then you are not being you. You are breaking that last trust." He stares hard into the Akumu's eye. "If you do that, then you truly are no better than your people."  
  
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Ayame, her patient up and moving, finds herself with nothing to do. Suzume was sleeping against Kenshin's chest as he carried her around. Megumi was busy with patients and couldn't take the time to give her another patient. None of the other kids were up to playing games, since they were all too scared to do anything. Sighing in boredom, she sits against a wall.   
  
Kenshin, Kaoru, Sanosuke, even Yahiko, only three years older than her, were trying to make plans to fight the strange monsters that had them blocked in the dojo.   
  
She lays her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. Suddenly, she feels a presence just above her. Opening her eyes, she starts momentarily at the what she sees. The strange creature that was her patient for most of the day kneels before her. He looks into her eyes, a smile in his own.  
  
"Arigatou gozaimasu." he says softly, kissing her on her forehead like her grandfather sometimes does.  
  
She stares after him as he stands and walks away, joined by the stranger with the chest wound that she had spoken to earlier.  
  
"I always knew you were a softy." the big man says as he steps near the creature. She couldn't hear what was said next, but the big man broke out into a loud laughter that shook the school.  
  
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"Konban wa."  
  
It's said so softly that Kaoru thinks she's hearing things at first. Taiyoryu stepped beside her with Tengoku beside him.  
  
"May we join your council?"  
  
"Aa." Kenshin says easily, as if this.. creature had never fought against him.   
  
*Of course,* she thinks, *That's the way he is. Sanosuke had hated him and fought him in a duel. Yahiko had picked his pocket. Megumi had worked for the yakuza. Even I attacked him the first time we met. Then, of course, there's Shinomori Aoshi.* She had always marveled at the way Kenshin could turn an enemy into a staunch ally.   
  
Looking back to the sketch of the dojo and it's grounds they had made on a piece of parchment, she listens as Kenshin explains their situation.  
  
"The Akumu Minzoku have surrounded the dojo. This," he indicates a circle around the dojo, "is as close as they have dared to come, so far." He looks at Taiyoryu. "You said the dojo was protected. What kind of protection did you make that can keep them at bay like this?"  
  
Taiyoryu shook his head. "I made no protection."   
  
Kaoru gasps, then clamps her hand over her mouth. *If he made no protection for the dojo, then why haven't they attacked yet?*  
  
"I strengthened a protection that was already here." he explains. The others, including Tengoku, look around, confused.  
  
Kenshin, though, looks down for a moment, as if trying to remember something. "The Tokugawa protections." he murmurs, reminding them that the site of the Kamiya Dojo is a corner in one of the old Feng-Shui formations formed to keep evil spirits out during the early Edo period by the Tokugawa government.  
  
"How long will it hold?" Kaoru asks.  
  
Taiyoryu shrugs. "That is like asking how long before the mountain erupts and destroys the city. It is no longer a matter of magic, but nature."  
  
"What do we do next?" Sano asks.  
  
"We could get help from the government." Yahiko says, excitedly. "They owe us a lot of favors, anyway. Besides, they can't just let this happen in the town."  
  
Sanosuke cuffs the boy on the head. "Oi, baka. How do we get out to ask them?"  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"We don't have to." Taiyoryu says, speaking for the softly. Everybody looks at him curiously. "They are already here." 


	12. Chapter 12

Rurouni Kenshin, and related characters, do not belong to me.  
  
*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
Shadow's return, chapter 12:   
  
"What do you mean, the police are already here?" Kaoru asks as she looks around. "I don't see any police."  
  
Taiyoryu smiles briefly before looking at Kenshin, who sat quietly with his eyes closed. With-out saying a word, Kenshin stands and walks to the nearest door that leads to the tobira, opening it quickly.  
  
"Konnichiwa, battousai."  
  
"Saitou." Kaoru gasps.  
  
The former Shinsen gumi ignores the girl, as usual, and stares, instead at the strange creature, eyes wide. His mouth hangs loose, threatening to dump his cigarette onto the dojo floor.  
  
"This is the first time I've ever seen Saitou surprised." Sanosuke says softly. Then, to Saitou, he adds, "What's the matter Saitou? You've never seen a demon before?"  
  
Shaking his head, the assistant inspector finally regains his composure. "How did you know I was there?" he asks. "Did my kenki give me away? Maybe some noise or movement?" It's obvious that the man isn't used to being found when he intends to stay hidden.  
  
The strange creature merely shakes his head and walks quietly up to the man. With a movement fast enough to startle Saitou, he snagged the cigarette dangling from his mouth. "If you are going to continue sneaking around in the shadows," the says softly, "You may wish to quit this habit. You smell worse than the breath of a kappa."  
  
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"How did you get past the Akumu Minzoku?" Kaoru asks, staring dumbfounded at the police officer.  
  
He glares at her from the corner of his eyes for a moment. "I walked." he says, voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"They wanted him in here." the creature standing next to the battousai said softly. He looks at Saitou, his eye glowing bright red, literally, with intensity. "They see you as a threat, so they seek to remove you with the same attack that they intend to remove us with."  
  
The former Shinsen gumi still has a hard time meeting the creatures glare, though. He had read Meiyomi's report, of course, but it had not prepared him for what was standing before him. Standing shorter than even the battousai, the creature before him wears the embroiders silk, gray and black in colour, of the mainland. The dark ebony skin of his face is framed and contrasted by the stark white of his long hair, which hangs loose around him. Despite the intensity that surrounds him, Saitou couldn't feel the creatures kenki, his sword spirit. According to Meiyomi's report, he was an expert swordsman.   
  
*Could it be he learned to conceal his kenki, to keep himself hidden, as I have been training to do?* Saitou wonders. *Or is his kind just so different from humans that we can't sense them? Are they able to sense humans?* These thoughts, and a hundred more, enter the mind of Saitou Hajime in the blink of an eye.  
  
The sudden snap of fingers before his face brings his mind back to the problem at hand.  
  
"Saitou?" Himura was trying to get his attention. Shaking his head, forcing himself to look away from the strange creature, Mibu's wolf faces the red-haired warrior.   
  
"You stepped in it this time, battousai." he says. "I slipped past at least two dozen of what ever those things are."  
  
"Akumu Minzoku." Tengoku tells the former Shinsen gumi. "Among the most feared creatures in existence."  
  
"You don't say." The assistant inspector sounds completely unimpressed now. Looking to Kenshin, he adds, "Forget Saitou for now. Remember, I'm known as Fujita Goro now."  
  
"Yare, yare, Saitou." Sanosuke says, louder than necessary.   
  
"Be careful, ahou." Saitou's voice is low and threatening. "We've discussed your.... skill before. Do you really want to be that embarrassed again?"  
  
Sano clenches his jaw angrily. "I'm still waiting for my rematch, psycho."  
  
"Maa, maa." Kenshin says, stepping between Sanosuke and Saitou. "We have more important things to worry about right now." The battousai turns to Mibu's wolf. "Can you get back out?"  
  
Saitou sends his mind back through his trip in. There were several times that he thought he had been seen, yet the strange warriors did nothing to acknowledge his presence. "I'm not so sure. I think I was seen coming in." he admits finally.  
  
The Akumu merely nods, then smiles toothily and Saitou could feel his heart trying to crawl out his throat. As he begins to chant softly, the dark warriors hands move in an integral pattern. He ends the motions by touching the Shinsen Gumi on the arm lightly. A pulse of light courses across the man, then he begins to fade from view.  
  
"Say nothing." the strange warrior instructs quickly. "If you speak, you will break the spell. If you fight, you will break the spell. If you move quickly, you will break the spell. In short, act as if you were merely trying to sneak out with no aid. If you do this, you should not be caught, barring stupidity. Once outside, organize the military here for a strike. When you start your strike, so will we."  
  
With that, Taiyoryu turns from the now invisible man, opening the sliding door to the outside. He steps out, leaving the door open behind him. Looking around, he finds the location of two warriors of his kind, watching the door for movement. Turning back to the door, he whispers harshly.   
  
"Be careful, baka. If you make my job more difficult by getting killed before you complete your mission, I will bring you back from the dead and kill you slowly."  
  
With that, the dark creature returns through the door and closes it behind him.  
  
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Saitou crouches at the door, listening as the tobira hisses shut. He can feel the eyes on him, even though he can't even see himself. Moving with slow precision, the warrior takes more than twenty minutes to clear the courtyard. He moves with a silence that impresses even himself.   
  
He comes dangerously close twice to being caught. Only his reflexes for silence saved him. First, as one strange warrior looks right at him, staring hard for several seconds before looking away. The other as he rounds the corner of the gate and nearly walks right into one of the warriors. A quick turn and spin gets him out of the way of the moving creature. He worries briefly about the spell ending from the fast movement, but seemingly unnecessarily.  
  
A smile cracks his rigid face as he exits the unmitigated darkness that surrounds the Kamiya Dojo to find a large force of the army waiting for some idea of what to do. A quick look at himself shows that he is still not visible. Glancing around, he finds Commissioner Kawaji pacing, trying to decide what course of action to proceed with.   
  
A second smile crosses his unseen face as he walks quietly up to the man who is his boss. 


	13. Chapter 13

As I'm sure you all know, I don't actually OWN Rurouni Kenshin, or related characters. Demo, that doesn't stop me from putting them through hell for no profit on my part.  
  
*Lines with in the stars (*) are thoughts.*  
  
  
Chapter 13:  
  
"So, what's the strategy?" Yahiko wonders aloud, turning to Kenshin.  
  
"Tengoku-san, what can you tell us about these Akumu Minzoku?" the battousai-turned rurouni asks the strange warrior. Tengoku, in turn, looks to Taiyoryu, an Akumu Minzoku, himself.  
  
Taiyoryu looks around briefly, then begins to speak.   
  
"My people tend to have problems with light." he starts, then is interrupted by Sanosuke.  
  
"A lot of good that does us!" the former fighter-for-hire snorts.  
  
Taiyoryu looks up, and up, at Sanosuke, irritation crossing his face. "Be thankful you are not in my homeland." he says. Though his voice is soft, there is a definite threatening undertone to it. "One would find themselves skinned alive for such an interruption... If pity was given to you and they stopped there..."  
  
Tengoku places a hand on the shoulder of his smaller companion, sending a look that told him that he had just crossed a dangerous line with humans. "You always were a sweet talker, Taiyoryu."  
  
Instead of apologizing, the Akumu merely continued with his plan  
  
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"Ohayo."  
  
The word is spoken softly, just shy of Kawaji's ear. The commissioner jumps, turning and seeing nobody. That's when a faint shimmer, for the lack of any better way of putting it, appears in the air before him. Narrowing his eyes, the man stares into the non-shape, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. As his hand drifts to the sabre, the form of a man begins to appear. The clothing of a police inspector forms briefly, then fades back into non-existance. Forcing his mind over what he had briefly seen, he tries to decypher what was before him. The inspectors uniform spoke little, Tokyo has several. That's when he realizes the one minour detail, barely visible through the shimmering effect, that made the uniform stand out.  
  
"Fujita, report!" he demands.  
  
"Hrmph."  
  
The form of Saitou Hajime appears almost instantly to the commander, the only inspector allowed to carry a katana over the European Sabre.  
  
"There are several dozen citizens held with-in the Kamiya dojo. Himura is there, as well, with the rest of his little group. We had formed a plan before I slipped out, but on the way out, I made some changes to it...."  
  
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Night rolls into early morning. Though the sun was not up yet, the streets were filled with activity. Carriage after carriage arrives outside the strange darkness. The area had been cleared of all stray citizens, even those still inside their homes. Even many of the police had been moved back. What was inside the carriages were among the governments best hidden secrets, even though they had only been so for six months. Saitou walks to the first of the carriages, opening the door. Leaning in, he speaks slowly, but with authority.  
  
"Your mission is simple. Destroy anything with-in that darkness that is not human."  
  
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*What is taking so long?*  
  
Toratsuki paces slowly on the roof-top of a nearby building. She wasn't overly concerned about an attempt on her life. She had enough protective spells placed on and around her to stop half of Tokyo. Still, the longer this attack takes, the more likely that something would go wrong. Her people were not equipped for a siege.  
  
*But I need the last piece to the artifact, or it will be useless....*  
  
Looking down over the school, she utters a curse that would make even her fellows blush.  
  
"Gohei." she starts, speaking to the wizard to her side. "Have you found a way dispel their protection yet?"  
  
"Gomen nasai, Toratsuki-dono." he says, bowing his head to her. "The protective wards seem to be from a geomancer, yet I cannot find a way around it."  
  
Toratsuki trembles with rage. *This will simply not due.* Her hand grips her whip ready to kill the spell-binder for his failure, when something to her right seizes her attention. Even through her spells that cast a deep darkness around the area, a ray of reddish light could be seen.  
  
"Kuso!" she spat. "The accursed sun is rising already!"  
  
The clash of metal on metal draws her attention from the offending light. With eyesight that is keen, even in such darkness, she could see the humans that were outside the dojo attacking her troops back-line in an attempt to break her troops siege. As much as she wanted to laugh, she dared not. Despite the fact that her troops were generally better trained than these humans, as well as more experienced, the humans had anger and numbers on their side.   
  
*And the damned sun.* she notes, seeing that some of her troops were having problems seeing in the bright light that the humans just shrug off. This combined with the fact that they were defending their city just might be enough to even the odds. Her light-sensitive eyes completely miss the smaller, even more numberous forms, mixed in with the police...  
  
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"Now."  
  
The word was barely more than a whisper as it escapes Taiyoryu's mouth. That whisper, though, was enough to send Kenshin moving at full speed from the dojo, hand on the tsuka of his sakabatou. With Sanosuke to his right, Tengoku to his left, Himura Kenshin charges through the fading darkness, created by the Akumu Minzoku, dispelled by the sun. Kaoru and Yahiko flanked either side of Sanosuke and Tengoku, forming a wedge to cut their way through the troops.   
  
As he enters the mystical darkness, he can hear the metal on metal of combat, punctuated by booming explosions of gun powder. A grim smile crosses his face as what was now the back-line of the force, the strange warriors turning to face Saitou's forces attacking them from the other side, comes full into view.  
  
*It is odd how this almost makes me reminisce for the Bakumatsu.*  
  
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An evil grin crosses Toratsuki's face as her force begins to finally gain a foot-hold against the onslaught of the humans. She had drastically underestimated the humans and it had cost her dearly. From her vantage point at the top of a nearby building, she counted nearly a dozen of her warriors down. Her wizards, though, have done better.   
  
They have completely turned now, facing the on-coming threat from the local peace-keepers.   
  
"Nan di?" She looks to her right as sounds of combat rise to meet her. A wordless scream of anger rips from her lips as she sees her wizards fall to a fresh attack from the dojo, which has become the back of the field. Suddenly, her troops are caught between two fronts and badly outnumbered. With no aid from her wizards, her warriors are as good as lost.  
  
*The piece I need MUST be in that dojo....* she thinks. *I must find it while my warriors are still distracting the others.*  
  
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The small, dark figure rummages through the school as the battle outside rages fully. Long, flowing white hair frames her lithe body, barely covered by her silken garments. Only through force of will, is she able to withstand the urging of the buildings protection to flee. Between the dull pressure of the wards and her frustration, she looses a short shout.  
  
"It must be here somewhere." Toratsuki growls.  
  
"It is not."  
  
The words were spoken softly, barely more than a whisper, but easily heard by the sharp ears of the Minzoku. Spinning quickly, her sharp eyes search the darkness of the dojo for the speaker.  
  
"I will make it easy for you...." There was a definite taunt to the words now. The brief stir of air to her left spoke of subtle movements. Turning, she finds a dark figure, leaning against the wall as if there was no war mere feet from him. Glancing up to her, he shakes his head ever so slightly.  
  
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You have been too long from the darkness." he says softly. "Your eyes burn."  
  
Only then did Toratsuki realize that, indeed, her eyes were giving a faint red glow in the darkness, a tell-tale sign of using her peoples innate ability to see in the dark.   
  
"You will not find the artifact here. It has already been removed." The figure makes a quick gesture with his arms and Toratsuki suddenly finds herself assaulted by bright light. The pain of the sun reaches her eyes, burning her skin. She can feel splintered wood and shattered stone under her feet.   
  
Covering her eyes, the leader of the Minzoku army forces herself to look up to the male before her, who could only be the betrayer, Taiyoryu. Holding his hand before him, he shows the priestess a small, unassuming stone.   
  
"What do you plan to do with that?" she asks, a weak attempt to sound as if she was still in control of things.  
  
A grin crosses his lips, a curve so dark it makes even Toratsuki's blood chill. 


	14. protest

Due to recent Fanfiction.net policies of deleting writers works with no warning, even banning some writers (from what I hear), I am no longer going to post here.   
  
While none of my own stories have been edited or deleted, nor have I, obviously, been banned, I feel it is wrong of ff.net to merely delete stories or ban writers who have supported them. After all ff.net exists because of the writers, not the other way around.  
  
From now on, my most resent Kenshin stories can be found here:   
  
http://tfme.net/tfme/page.php?pageSelect=i2.  
  
I am also in the process of transfering all of my stories, such as Humanity and Humility and other AD&D stories, to my own format that can be found here:  
  
http://wuyausu.homestead.com/files/pages/home.html 


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